Saudi Arabia Announces First Local Council Elections, but No Date

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: October 14, 2003

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 13 (AP) &#0151; Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would hold its first elections, to create local councils.

The royal family in this conservative monarchy has been under pressure to institute democratic reforms.

The cabinet said in a statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, that it had "decided to expand the participation of citizens in running local affairs through elections, by empowering the roles of municipal councils."

Saudi Arabia has a national advisory body, the Shura Council, which is not elected, but it does not have a parliament.

Elections will be held in 14 municipalities throughout the country, but just half the council members will be chosen through balloting, the statement said.

The cabinet did not say when elections would be conducted.

The de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, ordered government agencies to complete all necessary procedures for the elections within a year.

In 1975, Saudi authorities issued a law to form municipal councils, but they were never formed.

Saudis cannot hold public gatherings to discuss political or social issues, and press freedoms are limited.

But the fear of domestic terrorism, which was brought home for Saudis after the suicide bombings on May 12 in Riyadh, initiated an unusual public debate. Some of the kingdom's rulers have discussed opening the society. Critics say a lack of democratic freedoms has made the kingdom a breeding ground for militants.

Last month, 300 Saudis signed a petition, the third this year, urging the rulers to speed promised reforms to ward off the influence of militant Islam in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia adheres to the Wahhabi sect of Islam, which enforces a strict moral code.